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“Huff, did you really think you could hide from me forever?” says that familiar soft voice.
“Go away.” I start reeling in my line.
Something pokes me in the back of the head.
I freeze.My mirages haven’t done that before.I jerk to my feet and slowly turn my head to find a set of furious dark brown eyes and frosty pink lips.
“River?”
She pulls back her fist and punches me right in the stomach. “How dare you!”
I double over with a gasp. This isn’t a mirage.
CHAPTER SIX
“I’m sorry I punched you, but aren’t you supposed to be super-strong now?” River says, pacing back and forth in my measly little living room with a beige tiled floor, while I’m sitting on the beat-up brown sofa, trying to catch my breath.
The problem isn’t that she socked me, it’s that I’m going into the “red zone.” She has no clue how much I missed her, what I want to do to her. All the good and dirty things we never had a chance to do after confessing our love. The other problem is that my heart’s going into overdrive. I have to stay calm.
“I am strong, but you caught me off guard.” I sit up straight and inhale deeply.I got this. I’m calm. I’m not going to fall into a roid rage.“How the hell did you find me?”
“Kyle. I threatened him.”
“With what?” And why the hell didn’t he warn me?
“I said I’d go public with…” she starts screaming, “thefuckingnews you’re still alive, Huff!”
I twist my mouth to one side. I don’t actually know where to start. Mostly because she’s going to disagree with my choice to fake my death. I can’t blame her, but I can’t ignore reality either.
“If I’m alive, you’re not safe, River. There are people who’ll come after you to get to me.”
She stops pacing and walks over, shaking an angry finger in my face. “I didn’t ask you to protect me.”
“But I did it anyway, and you know why.” She was there the day Joy died. She knows the guilt I carry for not running to my sister’s rescue. “I won’t ever turn my back on the people I care about again.”
“So, basically, it’s all about you.” She folds her arms over her chest. I try not to fixate on the swells of her large breasts. She just really does it for me. Also, I missed her. Especially her smile.
Still missing it.“That’s a pretty one-sided way to see it, River.”
“What’s one-sided is you dropping dead in front of me on live TV and having to see your body in the morgue and then going to your goddamned funeral. What’s one-sided is that I had to go through all that pain and heartbreak because you made a choice forme!” Her eyes tear, and the guilt gnaws away at my gut. I know exactly what it feels like to lose someone you love. It tears your soul apart.
“I’m sorry. I really am.” I stand up and wrap my arms around her. She feels so tiny in my arms. Wasn’t always like that.
She pushes me away, her voice cracking with sobs. “Why, Huff? Why not just tell me the truth?”
My original plan was to die for real. Kyle was the one who had me injected with Morris’s street drug to prevent my heart from imploding, not that he was sure it would work. When I woke, he gave me the guilt trip of my life (i.e., How could I even consider dying after all Mom and Dad went through when they lost Joy?) Then he told me about all the people who wanted to get their hands on me. Even the government. That was how he convinced me to play dead. Now I wonder if he kept me alive for another reason. He clearly sees my condition as an opportunity.
“Honest, Riv? I would do anything to keep you safe, so that’s what I did.”
The pain in her warm brown eyes is almost too much. “But you didn’t keep me safe. You hurt me more than anyone ever has. I loved you.”
Loved?I guess I shouldn’t be surprised after what I put her through. What’s even worse is that I’m going to have to hurt her all over again.
“You shouldn’t have come here, Riv.” I press my hand to her soft cheek.
“So that’s it? I travel all this way, switch planes five times, take three cars, wear a disguise, and walk ten miles—all without a phone so I can’t be tracked—just to come and see you. Now you just want me to leave?”
No phone? Rough. “I’ve never been happier to see anyone, Riv. And if it were up to me, you’d never leave, but you don’t understand the situation.”
